Winners
Solo player claims five-figure dividend from Correct Score pool
A solo player landed a staggering return in the £30,000 Correct Score – Pick 4 pool over the weekend, taking home a five-figure return after correctly predicting the outcome of all four Euro 2020 quarter-finals.
The opening leg, Switzerland vs. Spain, took place on Friday afternoon. The player had their bases covered with five selections on their £90 ticket, most of which favoured an away win for Spain. However, there was a single draw selected, the 1-1, which ultimately proved a shrewd addition as an early Spanish lead was cancelled out by a second half Xherdan Shaquiri goal. Despite the Swiss subsequently being reduced to ten men, they held on for the draw to get the ticket off to a great start.
It was a result which proved to be a significant unit reducer in terms of the pool, with just over 11,000 of the 12,827 units crashing out in the opening leg and leaving the remaining tickets in a strong early position.
There was no time to rest, however, with the second leg, Belgium vs. Italy, kicking off almost immediately afterwards. The player has opted for three correct score options, 2-1, 0-2 and 1-2. Slightly favouring the Italians seemed a reasonable decision, given how they’d impressed in the tournament to that point coupled with Belgium missing Eden Hazard.
Italy raced to a two goal lead in the 44th minute, only for Romelu Lukaku to peg them back on the brink of half-time. As the second half got underway, the player couldn’t afford any further goals and would surely have been on the edge of their seat during as each side took five shots at the others goal.
However, fortunately just one of the shots was on target and failed to beat the keeper, meaning that the score remained 1-2 and confirmed a second consecutive correct leg.
With just 164 units still standing as the pool progressed from Friday to Saturday, the player opted not to Cash Out and, instead, let their ticket ride, with three selections selected for Czech Republic vs. Denmark. They needed either a 1-0 with for Czech Republic or a 0-2 or 1-2 win for the Danes to progress to the final leg.
In a similar story to the previous leg, Denmark continued their march through the tournament by taking a two goal lead in the first half before being pegged back, albeit this time in the 49th minute. The goalscorer this time was Patrick Schick who has been one of the unlikely stars of the tournament so far.
However, despite the Czech Republic dominating the second half possession and fashioning nine shots on goal, they were unable to score and, once again, the correct score finished 1-2, meaning the player was through to the decider, Ukraine vs. England.
They had opted for a single selection, Any Other Away, which effectively required England to win by any scoreline as long as they scored four or more goals. Considering that Gareth Southgate’s side had scored just four times in their four European Championship games until that point, it looked a very brave call.
The Three Lions got off to a terrific start, however, as struggling striker Harry Kane put them in front inside the opening five minutes. It was the only goal of the first half, though, with England sitting back after their phenomenal start which allowed Ukraine a foothold in the game.
Whatever Gareth Southgate said at half-time worked and England began the second half in the same manner, netting a second goal courtesy of Harry Maguire in the 46th minute. Suddenly England looked as though they might run rampant and, four minutes later, Kane scored his second to put them three up and effectively end the game as a contest. The player still needed one more though to scoop a share of the jackpot, could England do it?
It wasn’t long before they’d get their answer. In the 63rd minute, super-sub Jordan Henderson scored his first international goal at the 62nd time of asking to seal a fantastic 4-0 win and, fittingly, a fourth straight correct score for the player.
With a fourth correct score in the bag and just 1.95 units still standing at the full time whistle, the player had secured a sensational £15,890 return, 176x their initial stake. What an incredible effort.
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